NEWPORT County AFC striker Padraig Amond can’t wait to face former club Grimsby Town tomorrow and he’s determined to score past Mariners goalkeeper James McKeown.

Amond hit 37 goals in his only season with Grimsby as he helped them secure a return to the Football League in the 2015-2016 campaign.

The Irishman also scored twice at Blundell Park last season, while playing for Hartlepool United, and the he’s gunning for his old teammate McKeown once again.

He told the Grimsby Telegraph: “I have already spoken to Macca, and he knows what I will say to him.

“All the talking has started and I imagine it will keep going. I will be trying to get in his head!

“I will remind him what it’s like to pick the ball out of the back of the net when I’ve scored.”

Amond has scored twice in three home games for County since arriving at Rodney Parade in August – on his debut against Chesterfield and the only goal in the win over Cheltenham Town last week.

But he endured a miserable return to another former club last Saturday as the Exiles were beaten 2-1 at Morecambe.

“I want to score in every game I play, and against every goalkeeper,” he added.

“Of course it will be great to see him [McKeown], but for 90 minutes I want to do exactly what I did at Blundell Park last season.

“Make no bones about it, that’s exactly what I want to do. If I can get a third one this season, I will get a third one as well.

“I will be battering Macca for the rest of this week telling him that I am going to score against him. Hopefully he won’t be able to keep me out!”

On his time at Grimsby which culminated in promotion via the National League play-off final at Wembley, Amond said: “Naturally it is a club close to my heart.

“It was probably the best year of my career so far, and it was the most enjoyable season.

“When I signed for Newport there was one fixture I looked for, and that was Grimsby.

“There have been a lot of changes in the past year or so, but it is still the fixture I wanted and I can’t wait for Saturday to come around.”

Despite his affection for Grimsby, Amond insists there was no chance of him returning to Blundell Park this summer.

“There was no contact for me to go back to Grimsby," he said.

“There were other clubs interested, but the be-all and end-all is that Newport put the bid in and it was accepted.

“I was really, really happy to come to Newport.

"People did question the move but I didn’t look at the whole of last season, I looked at it from when the new manager (Mike Flynn) came in.

“Newport were dead and buried, and he transformed that side. They won eight or nine of their final 12 or 13 games, or whatever it might have been.

"Since he took over we have not lost many games, and one of them was against Leeds!

“The manager has put together a good squad with the players that he has assembled. It’s the reason why I chose to sign for them.

“I am really, really happy to be at Newport. I am relocating down here, and I’m looking forward to that as part of the move.”